Red Sox vs Evil Empire, Friday Night, 4/24

I'm listening to the crowd at Fenway chanting "Joba. Joba. Joba." as Joba the Hut has been rattled right out of the box. First by a balk call, advancing Jacoby to second, then the steal and passed ball, resulting in Ellsbury scoring. He then follows this by walking Pedie. I love it. Because I can't stand Joba.

Aaand Youk walks!


Lester struck out the side in the top of the second! Around a couple of walks, but still.

Bottom of second. Bay gets a nice hit. But Lowell hits into a double play. I missed the third out.

Top of third, Lester gets out of a challenge with no runs.

Bottom of third. Nick Green gets a hit. That boy is impressing me. Peds gets a double. Papi strikes out again. After going to 3-1, Joba intentionally walks Youk. Bases loaded. Drew hits a long out for out number 3. Drat.

Top of fourth. Lester's in a little trouble. Runners at 1st and 2nd, 1 out. Base hit, run scores, tie game. Fielder's choice scores another run. Evil Empire leads 2-1. Lester gets a strike-out for the 3rd out.

Bottom of fourth. Nice. Bay gets a double off that weird wall in left field. Joba hits Tek! Hah!! Nick Green hits a shot right back to Joba, and Joba makes a crappy throw to second. Everyone is safe! Dang it!! Ellsbury hits into a double play to end the inning. Still 2-1.

Top of fifth. Nothing for NY but a double by Nick Swisher. Heh. He should have changed his name. "Swisher." Hahaha...

Bottom of fifth. Pedroia got on first somehow...I missed it. Ortiz singles to right. Youk grounds, getting Ortiz out at second. Then Drew hits into another double play. Still 2-1.

Top of sixth. Manny Delcarmen's warming in the pen. Nice catch by Ellsbury for out one. Nice double play to end the first half.

Bottom of sixth. Bay hits a long out to right field. Lowell doubles off the monster! Tek gets a single, sending Lowell to third. Green singles, scoring Lowell. Tie ball game. Pitching change. Jacoby flies out. Pedroia flies out, getting Joba the Hut off the hook for the game.

Top of seventh. Okajima's in to pitch. The guy that looks at the ground when he throws. How does he do that?? Jeter gets a double because Drew was afraid of the wall. C'mon, JD!! Ok. Now, Okajima blows a sacrifice bunt and doesn't make the throw to get the guy out. Runners at the corners, no outs. Delcarmen is warming up again. Crap. Tex gets a hit, scoring Jeter. 3-2, no outs. Another hit, bases loaded. Pitching change, thank goodness. Delcarmen coming in. Bases loaded, no outs. Fly out, one out. (Michael Young just hit a two-run homer for Texas in Baltimore to put the Rangers ahead 5-4 in the top of the ninth!) Fly to Bay, but he has to dive to catch it, so runner tags. 4-2, 2 outs. Ground out for number 3. Finally out of this one.
o
Bottom of 7th. Papi flies out. (Marlon Byrd just made the catch for Texas that JD Drew missed while ago. Byrd wasn't afraid of the wall. Both of those runs should be charged to Drew.) Hmmm...Youk got out while I was watching the Rangers win. 2 outs. Drew up. He walks. Pitching change. Bay hits into a fielder's choice, getting Drew out at second. Still 4-2. I'm getting nervous.

Top of 8th. Oh, no. Saito's in with his 6+ era. There's a one out walk. Nice throw by Peds to get out 2. Struck him out! Yeah!

Bottom of 8th. Need some action here. Let's have one of those famous Red Sox 8th innings! BAD call on Mike Lowell! That ball was inside. One out. Tek routine grounder. Two out. Ouch! He hits Nick Green in the knee! Changing pitcher in the middle of a batter?? C'mon! YES. Ellsbury gets a hit. Two on. NOOOO!!! Pedie gets called out on another bad pitch! What's WRONG with this ump??

Top of 9th. Lopez in and starts out by hitting the batter. Well, great. And a walk. Sob. And another walk. Whyyyyyyyyy????? Oh, yeah!!! Nice double play, getting the lead runner! And my media player freezes up. Boo. Cabrera pops out, saving the inning.

Bottom of 9th. Ortiz strikes out...again! Youk singles. Drew grounds out, but Youk gets to second. BAYBAY!!! Home run, ties the game!! Van Every comes in to replace Lowell (why??) and singles. Tek strikes out. Here we go into extra innings.

Top of 10th. Papelbon in. Molina singles. Expected sac bunt. One out, runner on second. Great play by Peds to get Jeter out...Molina advances to third. Shoot. Demon walks. Tex is up. And there's a prayer meeting on the pitcher's mound. WOOT!!! After a long at bat, Tex strikes out on a high pitch! Three out!

Bottom of 10th. New rule proposal. Batter gets to steal first anytime the catcher misses the ball, regardless of the count. Oh, Nick! Struck out on a high pitch. One out. Ellsbury pops out to Jeter. Sigh. Argh! Peds strikes out.

Top of 11th. Ramirez pitching. Posada walks. Another lead-off walk. Sac bunt fails. Posada out at second. They should know better than that. Posada is old, damaged goods. Base hit to right. Two on, one out. (In my mind, we wouldn't be here if JD Drew wasn't AFRAID OF THE WALL!!) Nice. Another double play, good play by Pedroia, the MVP! Three out.

Bottom of 11th. Ortiz has a chance to be the hero. I'm calling it. Oops. Wrong again. Ortiz strikes out.......AGAIN! Four tonight. One out. YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!!!!! I called the wrong batter! Youk takes it deep for a walkoff home run (did that ball go in the street??) over the Monster, and the Sox have won 8 straight games!

Final score, Red Sox 5, Evil Empire 4.